Bantu 


Sociology 


ROBERT  HAMILL  NASSAU,  S.  T.  D. 

Author  of 

“FETISHISM  IN  WEST  AFRICA,”  “THE  YOUNGEST  KING,” 
“IN  AN  ELEPHANT  CORRAL,” 
and  “MY  OGOWE.” 


c 


Bantu  Sociology 


BY 

ROBERT  HAMILL  NASSAU,  S.  T.  D. 


Author  of 

“Fetishism  in  West  Africa,”  “The  Youngest  King,” 
“In  an  Elephant  Corral,” 
and  “My  Ogowe.” 


1914 


PRESS  OF 


ALLEN,  LANE 


SCOTT, 


PHILADELPHIA 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Preface .  4 

I.  Population .  5 

II.  Ethnic  and  Linguistic  Relationships .  6 

III.  Bantu  Language .  9 

IV.  The  Family .  11 

V.  Customs .  12 

VI.  Polygamy .  13 

VII.  Agriculture .  16 

VIII.  Hunting  and  Fishing .  18 

IX.  Trade .  19 

X.  Arts .  20 

XI.  Tools .  22 

XII.  Medicines .  23 

XIII.  Etiquette .  24 

XIV.  Foods .  25 

XV.  Dress . 30 

XVI.  Health .  32 

XVII.  Cookery .  33 

XVIII.  Religious  Festivals .  35 

XIX.  Secret  Societies .  36 

XX.  Musical  Instruments .  37 

XXI.  Amusements .  38 

XXII.  Folk-Lore  Legends  . 39 

XXIII.  Funerals . .  40 


PREFACE. 

The  following  statements,  while  true  of  the  Western 
Equatorial  African  tribes,  as  I  knew  them  from  1861  to 
1906,  are,  in  the  main,  true  also  of  the  entire  Bantu 
connection.  But,  there  will,  in  minor  points,  probably 
be  some  differences,  in  South  and  East  Africa. 

Africa  covering  three  zones,  naturally  includes  a 
great  variety  of  peoples,  customs,  foods,  and  char¬ 
acteristics.  What  may  be  predicated  of  any  given  portion 
of  that  continent  is  not  necessarily  true  of  the  whole. 

These  present  statements  are  the  result  of  my  own 
observations,  during  my  long  residence  in  the  Western 
equatorial  belt;  and  are  largely  true  also  of  the  Bantu 
tribes  of  the  entire  Torrid  Zone  of  Africa. 


Bantu  Sociology. 


I.  POPULATION. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  make  an  exact  calculation  of 
the  population  of  this  region.  The  original  estimates 
were  too  high.  The  population  of  the  entire  continent, 
once  reckoned  at  200,000,000,  is  now  more  properly 
placed  at  175,000,000,  of  these,  probably  only  100,000,000 
are  Negroes,  of  the  two  stocks,  Bantu,  and  pure  Negro 
(Guinea) ;  the  other  75,000,000  being  Moors,  Berbers, 
Copts,  Gallas,  and  Arabs. 

In  the  region  sub-tended  by  a  400-mile  coast-line 
(from  one  hundred  miles  south  of  the  Equator,  north  to 
the  Kamerun)  and  extending  500  miles  into  the  interior, 
the  explorer  De  Brazza  estimated  that  there  were,  in  the 
French  Kongo,  15,000,000.  (I  think  that  De  Brazza’s 
figures  are  too  large.)  And  Germany  estimated,  for 
her  Batanga  and  Kamerun  interior,  2,000,000. 

Over  the  extremes  of  the  continent,  in  the  Sahara  and 
Kalahari  deserts,  there  is  only  one  to  the  square  mile;  in 
the  great  Equatorial  Forest,  only  eighteen  to  the  square 
mile.  (Much  of  that  forest  is  included  in  De  Brazza’s 
region.)  Native  towns  are  located  on  the  river  banks; 
the  land  between  the  many  rivers  and  lakes  being 
uninhabited  by  human  beings.  I  never  saw  in  my 
quadrangle  a  town  of  one  thousand  inhabitants.  There 
were  scattered  villages  of  from  fifty  to  five  hundred 
people.  The  coast-tribes  die  out,  in  the  presence  of 
foreign  vice  and  rum.  Of  the  twenty  or  more  tribes  I 
could  name  in  my  special  equatorial  region,  I  doubt 
whether  any  of  them  number  over  ten  thousand,  except 
the  Bulu-Fanwe.  In  all  the  Fanwe  clans  possibly  there 
is  one  million.  I  doubt  whether  to-day  there  are  6000 
Mpongwe,  or  more  than  3000  Bengas. 


6 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


II.  ETHNIC  AND  LINGUISTIC 
RELATIONSHIPS. 

Though  the  Bantu  are  undeniably  of  one  common 
origin  (with  perhaps  a  little  Arabic  blood)  their  tribes 
are  exceedingly  clannish.  To  have  reached  the  sea- 
coast,  and  to  have  come  into  direct  trade-contact  with 
the  white  man  is  the  highest  mark  of  tribal  distinction. 
The  coast-tribes  all  look  with  contempt  on  those  of  the 
interior;  and,  in  their  trade-monopoly  (now  broken) 
formerly  they  did  not  allow  either  the  interior  man  to 
bring  his  ivory,  etc.,  for  sale  directly  to  the  white  trader 
at  the  sea-side,  or  the  trader  to  go  inland  to  buy  at  first 
price.  All  the  white  man’s  goods,  and  all  the  interior 
tribesmen’s  ivory,  etc.,  had  to  pass  through  the  middle¬ 
man  coast-tribe’s  hand  (with  an  inevitable  “commission” 
exacted) . 

Coast-tribe  men  married  not  only  women  of  their 
own  tribe,  but  also  any  others  from  any  other  “inferior” 
tribe.  Yet,  no  coast-woman  could  dare  to  accept  a 
lover  or  husband  from  any  interior  tribe.  Even  among 
the  coast-tribes,  there  were  similar  social  distinctions. 
Those  who  have  only  recently  reached  the  sea  are  rated 
in  a  low  stratum.  In  the  equatorial  region,  the  Mpongwes' 
regard  themselves  the  highest  in  the  social  scale. 
Mpongwe  women  are  not  permitted  to  marry  “down,” 
out  of  their  tribe.  And,  as  their  rules  of  consanguinity 
are  very  far-reaching,  some  of  their  women  cannot  find 
satisfactory  husbands.  Because  of  this,  and  their  educa¬ 
tion  and  their  beauty,  and  for  other  reasons,  they  are 
much  sought  after  as  “common-law”  wives,  by  white 
men,  for  a  hundred  miles  up  and  down  the  Coast. 

It  is  singular  that  tribes,  living  within  one  hundred 
miles  of  each  other;  in  the  same  climate;  wearing  much 
the  same  clothing;  eating  much  the  same  foods  (in  some, 
more  of  cassava :  in  others,  more  of  plantain) ;  the  upper 
tribesmen  constantly  marrying  lower-tribe  women ;  habits 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


7 


much  the  same;  (though  differing  in  the  size,  material, 
and  comfort  of  their  huts,  and  in  their  degree  of  cleanli¬ 
ness)  should  show  such  marked  differences  in  physique, 
and  even  in  feature.  After  many  years  of  residence  in 
that  entire  region,  I  could  tell  a  stranger’s  origin,  without 
looking  at  his  tribal  mark  (not  all  the  tribes  have  them), 
just  as  we,  in  the  United  States,  can  unhesitatingly  fix 
on  a  German,  a  Frenchman,  or  an  Italian.  The  Mpongwe 
men  are  light-colored,  tall,  handsome,  graceful,  polite; 
and  many  of  their  women  beautiful.  Southward,  the 
Orungu  are  tall,  athletic,  but  not  finely  formed.  The 
Gal  was  are  short,  not  handsome,  and  somewhat  rude. 
North  from  Gaboon,  the  Bengas  are  tall,  fierce,  and 
roughly -built.  The  Kombe  are  short,  stout,  and  faces 
unattractive.  The  Banaka,  stout,  dark-colored,  and 
of  medium  height.  The  Fanwe,  tall,  angular,  bold,  and 
singularly  vain  in  the  dressing  of  their  hair.  In  all  these 
tribes  there  are  at  least  five  shades  of  color,  from  a  coal- 
black  to  a  pretty  coffee-color.  I  have  seen  women  as 
light  as  an  American  mulatto,  who  were  nevertheless  of 
pure  Negro  blood.  (The  mulatto  is  unmistakable;  the 
mixture  can  actually  be  seen  in  the  skin.)  And,  in  all 
those  same  tribes,  I  have  seen  noses  aquiline  and  almost 
Caucasian  but  for  the  distinctive  spread  of  the  alas  of  the 
nostril.  The  lips  of  the  Bantu,  male  or  female,  are  not 
as  everted  and  exaggerated  as  in  the  Guinea  stock. 

In  my  300  mile-square  district  its  score  of  dialects  has 
been  gathered  in  three  groups.  1.  The  Southern,  the 
Mpongwe,  begins  at  the  Gaboon  river,  twenty-three 
miles  north  of  the  equator,  Cognate  with  it,  to  the  south, 
is  the  Orungu;  and,  up  the  Ogowe  delta,  are  Nkami 
(“Camma”),  Galwa,  Ajumba,  Inenga,  Ivili,  and  a  few 
smaller  ones.  2.  At  Corisco  island,  one  degree  north  of 
the  equator,  begins  the  Benga  group,  with  its  cognates, 
Mbiko  (on  the  east  shore  of  the  Bay),  Bapuku,  Kombe  (at 
Benita),  Evune,  Igara  (at  Campo  river),  Banaka  at 
Batanga  on  to  the  Kribi  river.  North  of  that,  in  the 
Kamerun  region,  the  Isubu  and  Duala  are  also  cognate 


8 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


with  the  Benga.  But  I  confine  myself  to  my  400-mile 
quadrangle.  Scattered  in  that  quadrangle  are  a  few  other 
cognates  of  the  Benga,  even  in  the  Mpongwe  region,  e.  g., 
Dikele,  the  dialect  of  the  Akele  (plural  Bakele)  tribe. 
3.  Subtending,  in  the  interior,  those  400  miles  of  coast, 
and  extending  both  north  and  south  of  their  termini,  is 
the  great  cannibal  tribe,  the  Fanwe,  with  its  own  cog¬ 
nates,  the  Bulu,  on  the  north,  and  the  Osheba  on  the 
south.  They  were  brought  specially  to  our  notice  by 
Du  Chaillu,  in  his  “Equatorial  Africa”  (1860,  Harper’s). 
His  father,  about  1840,  was  a  French  trader  in  the  town 
of  Libreville,  Gaboon  river,  the  headquarters  of  the 
French  colonial  government;  and  the  son,  before  he 
came  to  the  United  States,  had,  as  a  young  man,  trading 
and  hunting,  traveled  in  the  interior.  (I  remember,  at 
Libreville,  a  mulatto  half-sister  of  his.)  He  wrote  the 
name  of  the  tribe  as  “Fan,”  intending  that  the  n  should 
have  the  final  French  nasal  sound.  Bengas  called  it 
“Pangwe”;  Mpongwe  called  it  “Mpanwe”;  De 
Brazza  wrote  it  “Pahouin”;  English  “Fang.”  I  prefer 
“Fanwe.” 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


9 


III.  BANTU  LANGUAGE. 

The  Bantu  tribes  of  Africa  cover  its  entire  southern 
third,  south  of  the  fourth  degree  of  north  latitude.  They 
are  consitututed  of  probably  a  thousand  bands,  more  or 
less  unfriendly,  each  having  its  own  dialect  of  a  language 
known  as  the  Bantu,  whose  grammar  is  one,  in  its  rules 
of  construction,  for  the  entire  thousand.  The  essential 
differences  are  only  in  their  vocabulary.  But  these  are 
simple,  and  easily  acquired.  The  language  is  wonder¬ 
fully  regular,  often  alliterative  in  the  agreement  of  ad¬ 
jectives  and  pronouns  with  the  noun.  The  verb  has 
exactly  the  structure  of  “species,”  as  known  in  the  He¬ 
brew.  None  of  those  dialects  were  written  until  the 
advent  of  missionaries.  By  them,  they  were  reduced  to 
writing,  the  alphabetic  signs  used  being  those  of  English, 
on  a  method  proposed  by  Lepsius.  There  are  very  few 
of  the  native  sounds  that  are  not  represented  by  the 
English  consonants.  But  a  few  special  signs  are  used. 
And  the  vowels  are  expressed  by  the  sounds  of  the  vowels 
in  the  languages  of  southern  Europe.  Its  constructions 
are  simple,  beautifully  regular,  a  few  rules  applying  for 
all.  Its  dialects  are  only  differences  in  vocabulary;  in 
the  presence  or  absence  of  certain  letters;  and  in  a 
change  in  the  prefixes,  by  which  plurals  are  made. 

In  the  dialects  of  my  “quadrangle,”  Mpongwe  is 
softer  and  more  musical,  with  frequent  use  of  R  and  W 
and  Z.  Benga  somewhat  harsh,  with  abundance  of  B 
G  and  K,  and  substituting  L  for  R.  Fanwe  is  harsh  and 
curt,  with  decided  disposition  to  drop-  the  final  vowel 
belonging  to  all  other  Bantu  dialects.  Before  I  went  to 
Africa  in  1861,  a  Grammar  of  the  Mpongwe  had  already 
been  prepared  by  the  pioneer  of  that  part  of  the  Mission 
(Gaboon),  Rev.  J.  L.  Wilson,  D.D.  It  sufficed  for  the 
needs  of  subsequent  American  workers  at  Gaboon,  in 
the  Ogowe,  and  as  a  guide  for  the  English  pioneers  in 
the  Kongo.  It  was  revised  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  Walker. 


IO 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


There  was  one  also  of  the  Benga  made  by  the  pioneer 
of  the  Corisco  district,  Rev.  James  L.  Mackey;  which  I 
subsequently  revised.  That  Grammar  sufficed  for  the 
needs  of  subsequent  workers  among  the  Kombe,  Bapuku, 
and  Banaka. 

Though  several  members  of  the  Mission  became  pro¬ 
ficient  in  Fanwe  and  its  Bulu  cognate,  and  they  printed 
vocabularies  and  translations  of  Scripture,  the  first 
formal  Grammar  is  a  “hand-book”  of  Bulu,  in  these 
later  years  prepared  by  an  independent  traveler,  Mr. 
Bates. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


1 1 


IV.  THE  FAMILY. 

The  unit  [in  the  community  is  the  family,  not  the 
individual.  In  questions  of  marriage,  the  decision  is  not 
made  by  the  man  in  the  case.  He  does,  indeed,  on  his 
own  initiative,  and  by  his  personal  action,  make  appli¬ 
cation  to  the  family  of  the  girl;  but,  throughout  the  en¬ 
tire  subsequent  proceedings,  his  family  is  constantly 
present.  Himself  alone  has  not  sufficient  means  to  pay 
the  “dowry ’’-price  demanded  by  the  girl’s  family.  His 
own  family,  therefore,  contributes.  When  a  certain 
sum,  varying  according  to  the  social  standing  of  the  par¬ 
ties,  has  been  paid,  the  man  may  take  the  girl,  his  owner¬ 
ship  of  her  being  such  that  he  may  demand  of  her  any 
service,  and  may  treat  her  with  any  degree  of  severity 
short  of  taking  her  life.  Even  in  that  event,  his  own  life 
is  not  in  danger;  but  the  woman’s  family  may  demand  of 
him  a  damage-fine.  For,  though  the  specified  “dowry” 
was  paid  on  the  marriage-day,  the  girl’s  family  still  hold 
over  her  a  shadowy  claim,  which  the  husband  has  to  rec¬ 
ognize  in  occasional  presents  of  respect  to  that  family, 
and  especially  to  his  mother-in-law.  Marriage  can  be 
broken  if  the  woman  proves  unsatisfactory;  the  grounds 
of  complaint  being  disobedience  or  other  refractory  con¬ 
duct  or  sterility.  In  such  cases,  the  woman  being  re¬ 
turned  to  her  family  as  an  imperfect  piece  of  goods,  the 
family  must  either  furnish  another  woman  in  her  place  or 
return  a  portion  of  the  dowry  paid. 


12 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


V.  CUSTOMS. 

Of  two  prevalent  customs,  one,  well-known  in  the 
Orient  from  the  earliest  ages  (see  Genesis  19:8),  is  that  a 
guest  is  to  be  protected  by  his  host  from  all  danger,  and  is 
to  be  defended  at  any  cost.  The  other,  once  common  in 
Bantu  tribes,  but  no  longer  existing  since  the  advent  of 
foreign  governments,  viz.,  that  a  man  A,  feeling  himself 
wronged  and  unable  to  discover  the  offender,  starts  out 
to  strike  at  random  the  first  person  B  (however  inno¬ 
cent)  whom  he  may  meet  in  the  next  village.  B  in  turn 
revenges  himself  on  his  neighbor  C  in  another  village; 
and  C  passes  the  revenge  on  to  D  beyond.  And  so  on. 
Presently  the  entire  community  becomes  so  aroused  that 
they  all  unite  with  A  in  a  sincere  effort  to  discover  the 
original  offender,  who  is  then  adjudged  to  be  the  cause  of 
all  the  damages  done  in  the  chain  of  fights,  and  he  must 
pay  not  only  for  his  wrong  to  A,  but  also  for  the  losses  of 
B,  C,  D,  etc.  In  1875,  when  I  was  making  one  of  my 
first  pioneering  efforts  in  the  Ogowe  river,  a  certain  vil¬ 
lage,  aggrieved  at  some  offender,  seized  my  passing  boat, 
with  the  idea  of  including  me  in  “the  chain,”  and  thus 
obtaining  my  assistance.  I  indignantly  broke  “the 
chain  ”  by  accusing  them  of  theft  to  the  French  authority. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


13 


VI.  POLYGAMY. 

The  two  relics  of  barbarism,  slavery  and  polygamy, 
cover  the  entire  continent  of  Africa.  There  Mohamme¬ 
danism  and  Roman  Catholicism  still  allow  both.  The 
eight  European  nations  that  have  taken  possession  of 
that  land,  while  they  do  forbid  the  export  slave-trade, 
most  of  them  still  allow  domestic  slavery;  but  none  of 
them  forbids  polygamy.  The  result,  for  women,  is  that 
their  degradation  is  extreme;  and  the  civilization  of  the 
continent  necessarily  is  at  a  low  grade.  Polygamy  is  uni¬ 
versal  in  all  the  Bantu,  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  southern 
third  of  the  continent.  It  is  not  based  solely  on  mascu¬ 
line  lust,  but  partly  on  the  natural  and  commendable 
desire  to  accumulate  property.  A  man’s  social  standing 
is  reckoned  by  the  number  of  his  wives.  That  number  is 
limited  only  by  his  or  his  family’s  ability  to  assist  him  in 
purchasing  another.  The  wrong  consists  in  regarding  a 
human  being  as  “property.”  Worst  of  all,  that  a  woman 
should  be  so  regarded.  In  the  marriage-market  no  fe¬ 
male  remains  to  years  of  womanhood  unpurchased.  The 
bargain  with  the  child’s  parents  is  often  made  when  she 
is  an  infant  so  as  to  secure  her  for  a  future  wife.  Girls 
rarely  reach  the  age  of  twelve  without  being  bargained 
for.  The  price  depends  on  the  prominence  of  her  family 
and  the  pecuniary  ability  of  the  purchaser.  The  articles 
paid  vary  in  different  tribes,  and  in  different  parts  of  the 
continent,  viz.,  a  slave,  cattle,  guns,  iron  bars  and  other 
imported  articles,  e.  g.,  calico  cloth,  beads,  brass  jewelry, 
rum,  etc.  The  consent  of  the  girl  is  never  asked.  She 
may  hate  her  purchaser ;  but  it  is  in  vain  for  her  to  refuse 
or  rebel.  Later,  under  cruelty,  if  she  should  run  away  from 
her  (so-called)  husband,  her  own  parents  would  compel 
her  to  return  to  him;  the  alternative  (which  they  will 
not  comply  with)  being  the  return  to  the  purchaser  of 
the  goods  he  had  paid  for  her,  which  goods  had  probably 
already  been  spent  by  her  father  in  buying  himself 
another  woman. 


14 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


As  one  of  the  effects  of  this  state  of  affairs  (the  bal¬ 
ance  in  the  division  of  the  sexes  being  upset  by  the  monopoly 
of  polygamy)  many  a  young  man  has  no  wife.  Thence 
results  an  immoral  condition,  under  which  the  polyga¬ 
mist,  for  a  consideration  of  personal  service  in  house¬ 
building,  fishing  or  other  work,  allows  the  unmarried  man 
the  use  of  one  of  his  women.  If  that  arrangement  were 
secretly  made  by  this  woman  with  that  man  as  her 
lover,  on  discovery,  she  would  be  severely  punished 
(perhaps  an  ear  cut  off)  and  the  man  heavily  fined.  In 
former  days  he  would  have  been  sold  into  slavery  to  the 
next  adjacent  seaward  tribe.  Such  offenders  and  other 
criminals  punished  by  deprivation  of  liberty  in  domestic 
slavery  (instead  of  the  penitentiary  of  civilization)  fur¬ 
nished  the  first  cargoes  of  the  export  slave-trade.  Later, 
under  the  increased  demands  of  the  trade,  inter-tribal 
wars  were  stimulated  by  foreigners,  as  a  means  of  obtain¬ 
ing  prisoners  for  a  larger  supply.  The  children  of  such 
temporary  unions  belonged  to  the  polygamist  husband. 
Naturally,  therefore,  where  there  was  no  doubt  as  to  who 
was  one’s  mother,  there  would  be  uncertainty  as  to  who 
was  one’s  father.  Another  degrading  result  of  polygamy 
appeared  when  a  young  man  obtained  a  wife,  in  his  allow¬ 
ing  his  wifeless  friend  the  use  of  her,  on  condition  that 
the  favor  should  be  returned  when  that  friend  could 
finally  obtain  a  woman  for  himself.  Another  evil,  in  the 
degradation  of  women,  lies  in  the  African’s  oriental  hos¬ 
pitality.  In  providing  food  by  day  for  a  guest  the  host 
expects  to  provide  him  also  with  a  female  companion  at 
night.  The  woman  does  not  resent  this;  for  she  shares 
in  the  gifts  which  the  parting  guest  next  morning  gives 
to  his  host. 

Under  all  these  frightful  aspects  of  polygamy  the  na¬ 
tive  convert  to  Christianity,  if  a  polygamist,  meets  a 
difficulty  on  his  very  first  effort  at  a  change  of  life.  As  a 
proof  of  his  sincerity,  the  applicant  for  baptism  is  first 
required  to  choose  the  one  of  his  women  whom  he  will 
retain  as  his  married  wife,  and  send  all  the  others  away. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


15 


It  is  impossible  to  require  that  he  shall  send  them  back 
to  their  parents;  for  they  are  the  “property”  of  his 
family,  who  assisted  in  their  purchase.  In  his  own  sin¬ 
cerity  he  may  be  willing  to  lose  his  share  of  the  goods 
that  were  paid  for  them  and  resign  all  claim  on  them, 
so  that  he  shall  not  be  a  party  to  the  selling  of  them  to 
some  other  man.  But  he  cannot  prevent  his  family, 
who  were  fellow  stockholders  in  that  “property,”  from 
either  marrying  them  themselves  or  selling  them  to  other 
parties. 

For  those  women,  their  being  thus  put  away  is  not  a 
disgrace.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  public  shame.  Their 
original  relation  with  the  man  had  been  an  entirely  com¬ 
mercial  one,  by  arrangement  with  their  parents.  Their 
own  consent  had  not  been  asked.  Their  love  is  rarely 
involved.  And  no  one  of  them  need  remain  unmarried 
a  single  month  longer;  for  the  wifeless  men  are  ready 
promptly  to  apply  for  them.  But,  for  the  man  himself, 
the  test  is  a  heavy  one.  As  a  polygamist,  he  had  the 
service  of  his  women  as  practical  slaves,  in  plantation  and 
kitchen.  And  his  position  in  native  “society”  was  one 
of  respect.  As  a  monogamist,  he  (to  public  eyes)  lowers 
himself  in  the  social  scale,  besides  losing  the  money  he  had 
invested  in  the  female  “property.”  Fifty  years  ago  our 
United  States  Government  divested  itself  of  one  of  the 
two  “relics  of  barbarism.”  But  I  stand  in  shame  that  a 
representative  of  a  so-called  “Church,”  that  advocates 
the  other  relic,  is  allowed  a  seat  in  our  United  States 
Senate. 


i6 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


VII.  AGRICULTURE. 

The  native  towns  and  villages  are  all  built  on  or 
near  the  banks  of  the  many  lakes  and  rivers.  These 
streams  were  formerly  the  only  highways.  Until  recently 
there  were  no  roads.  (They  have  lately  been  made  by 
the  foreign  governments,  France  and  Germany,  which 
appropriated  West  Equatorial  Africa.)  The  interior 
forests  had  only  narrow  foot-paths,  made  by  wild  animals 
going  to  their  drinking-places,  or  by  hunters  of  rubber, 
ebony,  gums,  etc.  The  plantations  are  made  in  the 
forest,  a  half-mile  or  more  distant  from  the  villages.  The 
only  work  done  by  the  men,  in  agriculture,  is  the  felling 
of  the  trees.  A  man  cuts  over  an  acre  or  two,  in  the 
dry  season.  The  mass  of  fallen  trees,  after  lying  two 
or  three  weeks  to  dry,  is  fired  by  his  wife.  Without  any 
further  clearing,  she  begins  to  plant.  She  recognises  that 
the  ashes  of  the  burned  trees  is  a  benefit  to  her  crop. 
Knowing  nothing  about  “fertilizers,”  she  nevertheless 
observes  that  her  plants  grow  best  where  the  ashes  lie 
the  thickest.  With  a  little  trowel-shaped  tool,  she  digs 
small  holes  some  eight  feet  apart,  in  which  she  places  her 
plantain-settings.  At  the  same  time,  in  other  holes  in 
the  intervening  spaces,  she  inserts  cuttings  of  the  cassava 
(manioc)  bush;  and,  at  random  between  all  these,  she 
plants  sugar-cane,  Indian-corn,  okra,  squash,  yam,  eddo, 
cayenne  pepper,  beans,  and  sweet  potatoes.  All  these 
latter  will  bear  and  disappear  in  a  few  months;  the 
manioc  tubers  will  ripen  in  six  months;  and  their  bushes 
will  have  given  their  protecting  shade  to  the  young 
plantains,  which  will  finally  be  the  only  occupants  of 
that  particular  plot  of  ground,  bearing  fruit  ten  months 
later. 

Every  six  months  a  new  garden  is  to  be  made,  to 
keep  up  the  succession  of  crops.  During  all  that  interval, 
the  entire  care  of  the  garden  falls  on  the  woman.  She 
goes  to  it  daily,  to  keep  down  the  weeds,  to  get  the  day’s 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


I  7 


supply  of  vegetables  in  the  basket  on  her  back;  and, 
from  the  burned  timber,  to  carry  on  her  head  the  log 
of  wood  she  has  cut  for  the  fire  on  the  clay  floor  of  her 
hut.  On  occasions,  she  and  her  husband  (or,  sometimes, 
she  alone)  spend  the  night  in  a  shed  built  in  the  garden, 
to  guard  it  against  the  depredations  of  elephants,  oxen, 
hogs,  and  other  wild  animals.  As  the  women  of  any  village 
usually  have  their  garden-sites  chosen  contiguously, 
they  play  into  each  others  hands  by  taking  turns  as  to 
who  shall  go  on  certain  nights  to  the  watch-shed.  A  few 
men  and  women  can  do  the  watching  for  several  gardens. 
The  animals  are  frightened  away  by  firing  of  guns,  by 
shouts,  flaring  of  torches,  and  beating  of  pans. 


i8 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


VIII.  HUNTING  AND  FISHING. 

The  men  recognize,  as  their  special  works,  besides 
house-building  and  canoe-making,  hunting  and  fishing. 
The  hunt  is  to  obtain  for  food  the  meat  of  any  and  all 
wild  animals.  There  is  no  animal,  and  scarcely  any 
part  of  it,  that  is  not  eaten.  Wild  beasts  wrere  formerly 
hunted  with  bow  and  poisoned  arrow,  spear,  trap,  and 
net;  and  later,  by  guns.  In  the  hunting  of  the  elephant 
there  is  also  a  most  valuable  gain  in  the  acquisition  of  the 
ivory-tusk.  Its  sale  to  the  white  trader  brings  wealth 
to  the  hunter’s  home.  Fishing,  at  the  sea-coast,  is 
skilfully  done  with  deep-sea  work;  and  with  net  and 
hook  near  the  shore.  And,  in  the  rivers,  with  hook.  In 
the  two  dry  seasons,  in  small  rivers,  when  the  water  is 
low,  dams  are  built  by  both  men  and  women.  The 
intervening  body  of  water  is  bailed  out,  and  the  captive 
fish  are  caught  by  the  basketful.  Sometimes  also,  the 
stream  is  poisoned  with  the  juice  of  a  mashed  fruit. 
The  poison  does  not  affect  the  flesh  of  the  fish;  it  only 
paralyzes. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


19 


IX.  TRADE. 

Trade  with  foreigners  is  carried  on  only  by  the  men. 
They  hunt  the  elephant;  collect  the  palm-oil  nuts;  cut 
down  the  ebony,  red  dye-wood,  mahogany,  and  other 
natural  products.  These  they  barter  (there  being,  until 
recently,  no  currency)  at  the  white  trader’s  post  or 
“factory,”  for  rum,  calico  prints,  guns,  powder,  crockery, 
hardware,  iron  bars,  cheap  jewelry,  beads,  etc.,  etc.  An 
evil  feature  of  the  trade  is  that  it  is  a  “trust”  system. 
Goods,  in  amounts  varying  from  ten  to  a  hundred  dollars, 
are  handed  out  to  natives  in  advance,  “on  trust,”  before 
the  native  has  done  any  work  in  the  collection  of  the 
natural  products.  He  will  take  his  own  time  in  making 
the  collection.  He  spends  most  of  the  goods  received, 
before  making  any  effort  to  repay.  And,  he  never  does 
repay  all.  He  receives  a  renewal  of  supplies;  but  his 
account  with  the  white  man  is  always  in  arrears.  There 
comes  a  day  when  the  native  deliberately  appropriates 
the  last  instalment,  and  makes  no  further  effort  at 
repayment.  Being  then  dismissed  by  his  employer,  he 
starts  credit  with  another.  In  the  competition  among 
the  traders,  the  dismissed  defaulter  is  accepted  readily 
at  a  new  post ;  for,  he  is  sure  to  be  honest  for  a  while,  in 
order  to  get  a  good  name  that  will  entitle  him  to  a  large 
advance.  And,  then,  he  is  ready  to  default  again.  It 
is  a  very  bad  system.,  making  the  natives  more  dishonest 
than  they  naturally  were;  and  cultivating  dishonorable 
rivalry  among  the  white  traders;  for,  the  defaulting 
native  was  formerly  rarely  punished  by  any  law  court. 


20 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


X.  ARTS. 

The  introduction  of  foreign  goods  has  destroyed  most 
of  the  few  arts  that  the  natives  had  received  from  their 
forefathers.  They  had  weaving,  pottery,  and  black- 
smithing.  As  to  weaving,  there  was  very  little  call 
for  its  use.  No  clothing  was  worn  by  the  children; 
scarcely  any  by  the  women;  and  very  little  by  the  men. 
Skins  of  animals  were  used.  And  of  a  certain  tree  the 
bark  was  removed  in  sections  in  size  about  four  feet  by 
two  feet;  the  rough  outer  part  was  cut  away,  leaving 
the  soft  inner  portion,  which  was  then  soaked  in  water 
and  beaten  with  a  pestle.  The  fibers  run  in  a  remarkable 
warp-and-woof  arrangement,  making  a  soft  cloth-like 
piece.  The  loom  was  very  simple,  containing  the  principle 
of  our  civilized  machine.  The  material  woven  was  the 
split  soft  unexpanded  leaflets  of  a  palm-tree,  making 
pieces  of  so-called  “grass  cloth,”  about  twenty  inches 
in  width  and  some  three  feet  in  length,  the  size  of  an 
ordinary  towel.  They  were  pieced  together  in  making 
mosquito-nets.  For  pottery,  certain  earths  were  found 
which  yielded  well  in  moulding  of  pots  and  jars,  which 
was  done  entirely  by  hand.  These,  after  being  sun- 
dried,  were  burned  in  a  wood  fire.  Some  of  them  were 
japanned  with  a  native  gum. 

In  every  village  is  a  smithy;  the  fire  of  wood;  the 
bellows  such  as  is  depicted  on  the  ancient  monuments  of 
Egypt.  (There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Central  Africa 
drew  its  civilization  from  Egypt.)  In  the  interior,  there 
are  places  where,  before  white  men  introduced  iron  bars, 
the  natives  found  seams  of  iron  ore  cropping  out  of  the 
ground.  They  smelted  the  ore  with  wood-fire  (charcoal) 
in  clay  furnaces.  The  resultant  cast-iron  they  beat, 
under  different  degrees  of  heat,  into  wrought  iron.  Like 
our  own  civilized  blacksmiths,  at  certain  stages  of  the 
process,  they  rubbed  the  hot  metal  onto  a  silica-laden 
clay.  And,  watching  the  color  of  the  flame  at  certain 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


2  I 


stages,  they  could  temper  or  untemper  the  iron  for  the 
special  purpose  desired.  Thus  they  now  work  the 
imported  iron  bars  into  knives,  spears,  fish-hooks,  axes, 
and  other  tools.  For  the  felling  of  some  trees,  they  prefer 
their  own  little  axes  to  our  foreign  ones.  The  latter, 
being  very  hard  and  of  high  temper,  are  brittle  against 
very  hard  woods.  The  native  axe  will  dull,  but  does  not 
break.  This  native  smithy  still  remains  in  almost  all 
villages.  But,  the  loom  and  pottery  have  almost  dis¬ 
appeared  before  the  abundance  of  foreign  cloth  and 
crockery. 


22 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XI.  TOOLS. 

The  native  tool  most  in  use  by  men  is  a  long  knife 
(machete)  worn  as  a  dagger  at  one’s  side,  hanging  from 
the  girdle.  It  is  used  for  all  purposes;  to  cut  one’s 
meat;  to  slash  away  obstructive  branches  on  the  path; 
to  cut  grass  and  weeds ;  and  as  a  weapon  of  both  defense 
and  offense.  The  spears  formerly  used  were  of  different 
lengths  and  sizes,  according  as  they  were  for  use  against 
different  animals. 

A  singular  cross-bow  of  great  power  was  used  in  the 
shooting  of  poisoned  arrows.  The  handle  was  split  to  a 
certain  extent.  Two  fingers  of  the  hunter’s  right  hand 
were  inserted  between  the  splits  of  the  handle  at  its 
near  end.  The  left  hand  clasped  the  handle  near  the 
distant  end,  just  where  the  string  of  the  bow  lay  in  a 
notch.  In  the  line  of  the  notch  was  a  hole  in  the  upper 
half  of  the  split-handle.  Into  that  hole  projected  a  small 
plug  set  in  the  lower  half.  Instead  of  a  trigger  being 
pulled,  as  in  a  gun,  at  the  proper  moment  of  firing,  the 
hunter’s  left  hand  suddenly  squeezed  the  two  split  halves 
together;  the  plug  was  thus  forced  up  into  the  notch, 
and  the  string  was  released.  Other  tools  were  axes, 
garden  trowels,  and  harpoons. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


23 


XII.  MEDICINES. 

The  native  doctor  is  a  sorcerer.  He  does  indeed  pre¬ 
scribe  vegetable  medicines,  some  of  which  may  possibly 
be  indicated  as  desirable  by  the  patient’s  symptoms. 
This  desirability  has  not  been  indicated  by  any  knowl¬ 
edge  of  anatomy  or  physiology.  There  is  only  a  hap¬ 
hazard  memory  that  certain  drugs  had  happened  to  be 
useful  in  certain  diseases.  But,  even  in  such  cases,  it  is 
not  the  drug  that  is  considered  efficient.  An  associated 
spirit ,  to  whom  the  drug  is  somehow  pleasing,  is  the 
efficient  means  of  cure.  That  spirit  is  invoked  by  the 
sorcerer-doctor  with  incantations,  drum  and  other  cere¬ 
monies  ;  and  allows  itself  to  be  confined  in  some  material 
object,  e.  g.,  a  shell  or  a  small  horn,  into  which  the  ashes 
of  the  drugs  have  been  placed.  It  will  remain  there, 
healing  the  patient,  only  just  as  long  as  the  latter  complies 
with  the  requisitions  of  a  certain  ritual  of  prayer  and  sac¬ 
rifice.  This  system  of  sorcery  develops  itself  into  a  wider 
practice  of  witchcraft.  The  doctor  claims  not  only  to  be 
able  to  cure  disease  by  aid  of  spirits,  but  also  to  help  in  all 
human  interests,  of  planting,  fishing,  hunting,  marrying, 
etc.  And,  more  than  all  these,  to  protect  against  the 
machinations  of  all  enemies,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the 
latter.  The  material  object,  called  a  fetish,  containing  the 
assisting  spirit,  is  carefully  carried  on  the  body  of  the 
devotee.  But  that  spirit  will  be  displeased,  and  will  de¬ 
part  if  the  devotee  fails  in  any  of  the  minute  ritualistic 
requirements.  That  fetish  is  then  no  longer  of  use 
(except  to  sell  to  the  curio-hunting  white  man).  A  new 
one  must  be  obtained. 


24 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XIII.  ETIQUETTE. 

In  the  matter  of  salutation  there  are  a  variety  of 
forms,  fitted  to  different  degrees  of  acquaintanceship; 
just  as  in  civilization.  The  most  common  form  is  for  the 
inferior  to  salute  the  superior  with  the  word  “Mbolo.” 
As  to  inferiority,  it  belongs  to  youth  as  compared  with 
age;  to  a  woman  as  compared  with  a  man;  to  a  slave  as 
to  a  master;  to  a  host  or  hostess  as  to  a  visitor  or  guest, 
even  if  that  visitor  be  a  child  or  a  woman.  ‘ ‘ Mbolo  ”  is  a 
verbal  noun,  meaning  “grey  hair,”  from  an  irregular 
defective  verb,  “to  grow  old.”  The  salutation  means 
“may  you  live  to  have  grey  hairs,”  i.  e.,  “long  life  to  you!” 
The  response  is,  “Ai!  Mbolo!”  In  saluting  a  company  of 
visitors,  or,  on  the  road,  only  one  of  them,  who  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  their  leader,  is  named;  but  the  verb  is  then 
in  the  plural,  “Mbolani.” 

Among  intimate  friends,  as  the  visitor  is  seen  approach¬ 
ing,  the  host,  male  or  female,  advances  with  outstretched 
arms,  ejaculating,  “lye!  Sale!”  (Hail!  Welcome); 
and  then  the  host’s  arms  embrace  the  visitor,  patting  him 
or  her  on  the  back,  and  rapidly  saying,  “Samba,  samba, 
samba,”  (an  oath);  the  visitor,  at  the  same  time,  re¬ 
sponding  with  the  embrace,  the  patting,  and  the  samba. 

The  courtesy  extended  to  guests  is  oriental.  The 
guest  is  to  be  given  the  best;  may  (like  the  Queen  of 
Sheba  from  Solomon)  ask  for  anything;  is  to  be  pro¬ 
tected  from  theft  or  assault  by  any  enemy  from  any 
adjacent  place,  and  to  any  extent.  A  part  of  hospi¬ 
tality  formerly  (and  in  many  tribes  at  present)  was  to 
provide  for  the  male  visitor  at  night  a  female  companion. 
This  was  one  of  the  justifications  of  polygamy.  For  all 
these  favors  a  return  in  kind  was  to  be  made  by  the  guest 
when  next  he  should  play  the  role  of  host.  As  foreign 
white  men  cannot  conveniently  take  that  role,  they  pay 
for  the  favors  given  them  as  guests  when  they  close  their 
visit,  giving  presents  of  cloth,  tobacco,  beads,  etc. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XIV.  FOODS. 

1.  Vegetables.  None  of  these  peoples  are  vegetari¬ 
ans  from  choice.  Sometimes  custom,  or  ill-success  in 
hunting,  may  compel  a  diet  of  herbs  for  even  weeks. 
But,  when  the  opportunity  comes,  there  is  a  gorging  of 
meat  sufficient  to  cover  the  painful  memory  of  the  pre¬ 
vious  deprivation. 

If  botanists  are  correct,  Africa  long  ago  was  poorly 
supplied  with  vegetable  foods;  for,  two  of  the  present 
staffs,  plantain  and  cassava,  are  supposed  not  to  be  indi¬ 
genous,  but  to  have  been  introduced,  respectively,  from 
Arabia  and  South  America.  This  article’s  limits  forbid 
my  entering  the  very  interesting  subject  of  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  plants  and  animals,  as  related  to  ocean  currents, 
early  voyages,  seismic  divisions,  and  possibly  a  submerged 
Atlantis.  (1)  The  plantain  is  a  species  of  the  genus 
musa.  It  is  a  most  healthful  food;  widely  distributed; 
and  largely  used.  Each  plant  bears  but  one  bunch  of 
fruit;  to  obtain  which  the  stem  is  cut  down.  But  there 
are  always  several  shoots  at  its  base,  the  largest  of  which 
immediately  takes  the  place  of  the  parent.  This  process 
goes  on  indefinitely,  each  shoot  producing  its  bunch  in 
from  eight  to  twelve  months.  It  is  never  eaten  raw. 
It  is  gathered  by  the  natives  before  it  is  ripe.  They 
claim  that  in  this  stage  it  contains  more  nourishment, 
its  starchy  matter  not  having  been  replaced  by  the  sugar. 
They  always  boil  it.  Foreigners  prefer  to  allow  the 
fruit  to  ripen,  either  on  or  off  the  plant.  Then  we  use  it 
boiled;  or,  if  quite  ripe,  baked;  or  over-ripe,  sliced  and 
fried.  It  is  cooked  in  all  ways  in  which  our  “Irish”  po¬ 
tatoes  are  prepared.  There  are  many  varieties  of  the 
plantain,  marked  by  differences  in  size  of  the  fruits,  color 
of  the  rind,  or  their  mode  of  arrangement  on  the  bunch. 
There  is  a  very  general  misunderstanding  about  the 
banana  (which  is  also  a  species  of  musa).  All  over  the 
United  States  a  certain  variety  of  banana  is  miscalled 


26 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


“plantain;”  and  in  many  books  of  African  travel  the 
plantain  is  miscalled  “banana.”  The  two  plants  are  in¬ 
deed  very  much  alike,  resembling  each  other  (as  an  apple 
tree  does  a  pear  tree).  But  the  plantain  fruit  when  ripe 
is  always  yellow  inside;  it  is  very  much  larger  than  a 
banana;  and  a  bunch,  instead  of  containing  (as  the 
banana)  several  hundred  “fingers”  crowded  closely,  has 
at  most  only  from  thirty  to  forty,  hanging  quite  apart. 
African  employees  would  mutiny  if  offered  “bananas”  as 
their  rations.  They  use  the  banana  only  raw  as  a  rec¬ 
reation  between  meals,  as  we  do  an  apple.  Of  bananas 
there  are  also  several  varieties,  marked  by  size,  or  color  of 
rind.  Inside  the  banana  is  always  white. 

2.  Cassava,  or  cassada,  is  the  South  American  “ma¬ 
nioc”  (jatropha  manihot,  or  mandioca).  From  it  is 
obtained  our  tapioca.  There  are  two  varieties,  known 
by  a  slight  difference  in  the  leaf.  One,  the  sweet,  is  less 
productive  than  the  other,  the  far  more  common  one; 
the  latter  contains  a  poisonous  juice.  The  gathering  of 
the  tubers  destroys  the  bush;  but  it  is  immediately  re¬ 
planted  by  cuttings  of  the  stems  of  the  bush,  which  re¬ 
produce  six  or  eight  months  later.  The  tubers,  which  are 
almost  solid  starch,  are  gathered  in  baskets,  which  are 
set  in  running  water  for  two  days.  They,  ferment ;  and 
the  poisonous  quality  is  eliminated.  They  are  then 
peeled  and  beaten  in  a  wooden  trough,  most  of  the  few 
woody  fibers  being  retained.  Rolls  of  this  dough-like 
mass,  in  size  about  fourteen  inches  by  two  inches,  are 
tied  in  leaves  of  plantain  or  phryneum;  placed  with  a 
little  water  in  large  iron  pots  over  a  fireplace,  and  covered 
closely  so  as  to  retain  the  steam,  which  then  bursts  the 
starch-grains.  These  rolls  are  eaten  by  the  natives  in 
this  only  partially  cooked  state,  with  much  salt,  cayenne 
pepper  pods,  oily  nut  gravies,  and  the  broth  of  whatever 
may  be  the  meat  of  the  day.  Usually  even  a  little  meat 
suffices.  But  foreigners  rarely  eat  of  these  sour  cassava 
rolls  unless  they  first  slice  and  toast  them.  This  toasting 
thoroughly  cooks  and  removes  the  offensively  sour  taste 
and  odor.  Native  laborers  assert  that  cassava  is  more 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


27 


strengthening  for  work  than  any  other  of  their  staffs  of 
life.  This  may  be  so;  for  their  digestion  is  good.  But 
I  have  supposed  the  sour  cassava  to  be  the  cause  of  the 
lumbricoid  worms  with  which  all  our  Bantu  natives, 
young  and  old,  are  afflicted.  The  leaves  of  the  cassava 
are  commonly  used  as  greens. 

(3)  The  eddo  (yautia)  is  an  arum  esculentum,  the 
tuber  of  a  calladium,  known  in  the  United  States  for  an 
ornamental  plant,  under  a  common  name,  as  “elephant- 
ear.  ’  ’  This  tuber  is  conveniently  twisted  from  the  parent 
stock,  just  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  while  that 
the  plant  continues  to  grow  and  produces  other  tubers. 
It  is  cooked  in  every  mode  in  which  we  prepare  our  Irish 
potato,  for  which  it  is  a  good  substitute.  It  is  not  as 
dry  as  the  latter,  having  in  it  a  sticky  gluten.  Its  young 
undeveloped  leaves  are  used  as  greens.  Both  the  tubers 
and  the  leaves  are  enjoyed  by  foreigners.  But,  in  the 
cooking  of  both,  care  must  be  used  to  pour  off  the  first 
water  in  which  they  are  boiled,  as  it  is  very  acrid,  the 
plant  being  a  relative  of  our  American  “Indian  turnip.” 

(4)  The  yam  has  several  varieties,  white  and  yellow, 
large  and  small.  It  is  a  very  good  substitute  for  the  Irish 
potato.  There  is  a  very  general  misunderstanding  in  the 
United  States  about  the  word  “yam.”  What  is  known 
under  that  name  in  our  markets  is  no  yam  at  all,  but  is 
only  a  large  coarse  variety  of  our  common  sweet  potato. 
The  real  yam  belongs  to  an  entirely  different  botanical 
family.  It  is  a  tuber  of  any  rough  knotty  shape,  from 
the  size  of  one’s  fist  to  that  of  one’s  thigh.  It  grows  with 
a  woody,  thorny  vine  that  does  not  trail  on  the  ground, 
but  clambers  over  adjacent  bushes.  The  bulbous  pro¬ 
jections  that  cover  the  parent  tuber  are  broken  off  as 
they  come  to  a  proper  size  for  table  use;  and  the  parent 
tuber  goes  on  evolving  new  projections.  The  skin  is 
thick  and  very  dark.  But  the  interior  is  white  or  yel¬ 
low  and  very  hard,  even  after  being  cooked;  in  which 
hard  form  the  natives  usually  eat  it.  Foreigners  always 
have  it  mashed,  in  which  state  it  is  dryer  even  than  the 
Irish  potato,  which  it  resembles  in  taste. 


28 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


(5)  Ground  nuts  are  grown  more  or  less  by  all  the 
tribes.  But  I  know  of  only  a  few  who  make  them  their 
chief  article  of  food.  They  are  exported  largely  to 
Europe  for  the  adulteration  of  olive  oil. 

(6)  Rice,  the  staple  food  of  some  of  the  West  African 
tribes  (and  particularly  of  the  strongest  laborer  on  the 
foreign  steamships,  the  Kru-man  of  Liberia),  and  “meal¬ 
ies,”  the  common  food  of  the  South  African,  are  not  much 
cultivated  by  the  natives  of  the  Torrid  Zone. 

Besides  the  above-named  four  or  five  chief  staffs, 
almost  any  native  garden  has  more  or  less  of  maize, 
squash,  pumpkin,  okra  (gumbo),  greens  of  several  kinds, 
the  indispensable  cayenne  pepper  pods,  and  a  calabash 
or  gourd,  from  whose  seeds  is  made  a  rich  pudding.  In 
the  forest  are  gathered  a  variety  of  oily  nuts  (besides  the 
common  palm),  one  of  which,  the  kernel  of  the  wild 
mango,  makes  a  rich  gravy  (odika)  much  enjoyed  even 
by  foreigners.  At  all  the  gardens  on  the  sea  coast,  have 
been  introduced  from  Europe  and  the  United  States  our 
common  garden  seeds  and  plants,  tomato,  cabbage,  cu¬ 
cumber,  egg  plant,  etc.  From  the  West  Indies  have  been 
brought  the  bread-fruit  tree  and  the  avocado  pear  (mis¬ 
called  the  “alligator”). 

2.  Animal.  (1)  The  animal  foods  are  fish  and  the 
flesh  of  wild  beasts.  The  fish  are  very  abundant  from 
the  sea,  bays,  and  mouths  of  the  numerous  rivers.  But 
up  the  streams,  uncertain  except  in  particular  seasons, 
where  the  waters  are  low,  when  enormous  quantities  are 
caught  in  the  pools  and  dried  for  future  consumption. 
Of  the  wild  animals — elephant,  hog,  ox,  varieties  of  an¬ 
telopes,  monkeys,  gorillas,  snakes;  and  smaller  ones,  such 
as  the  genet,  civet,  iguana,  and  porcupine;  and  (in  the 
rivers)  hippopotamus,  alligator,  crocodile  (the  gavial  of 
India),  and  the  luscious-fleshed  manatee  (dugong) ;  all 
these,  even  their  skin,  are,  without  exception,  eaten  by 
the  interior  tribes.  I  know  of  no  part  of  any  of  these  ani¬ 
mals  that  in  the  butchering  of  them  is  thrown  away 
except  the  gall  bladder  and  the  urinary  bladder. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


2Q 


All  of  those  interior  tribes  were,  and  still  to-day  are, 
more  or  less  cannibalistic  in  their  tastes.  But  I  must 
explain  that  this  cannibalism  is  different  from  the  re¬ 
ported  taste  of  the  South  Sea  islander,  who  is  represented 
as  actually  keeping  on  hand  victims  to  be  fattened  for  a 
feast.  (I  am  aware  of  the  old  “chestnut”  that  repre¬ 
sents  a  missionary  as  the  favorite  article  of  diet  of  those 
islanders.  There  are  only  three  cases  known  in  which  a 
missionary  has  there  been  murdered  and  eaten.)  The 
African  cannibal,  as  an  act  of  triumph,  having  killed  his 
enemy  in  war,  completes  the  conquest  by  eating  him. 
It  is  true,  however,  that  this  taste  for  human  flesh  having 
been  formed,  the  men  of  the  interior  do  sometimes 
barter  for  the  bodies  of  those  who  have  recently  died, 
villages  exchanging  favors  for  that  purpose.  But  I  have 
never  heard  of  a  family  eating  its  own  dead.  And  in 
none  of  those  cannibal  feasts  are  women  allowed  to  par¬ 
take.  (I  have  suspected  that  this  was  a  part  of  mascu¬ 
line  selfishness;  for,  the  same  prohibition  is  frequently 
made  of  the  meat  of  some  of  the  wild  beasts.)  At  the 
sea  coast,  however,  contact  with  civilization  has  made 
the  native  sensitive  to  the  charge  that  his  forefathers 
were  cannibals,  and  he  resents  it.  Also  the  coast-native 
looks  with  hesitation  at  flesh  of  gorillas  or  monkeys, 
saying  that  they  too  much  resembled  human  beings. 
They  share  also  in  the  civilized  feeling  of  abhorrence 
toward  the  flesh  of  a  snake.  When  there  has  been  a 
successful  hunt,  and  there  is  a  greater  amount  of  flesh 
than  can  be  eaten  at  once,  it,  as  in  the  case  of  fish,  is 
smoke-dried  for  future  use.  But  the  process  of  drying  is 
always  incomplete;  worms  are  bred,  and  the  decayed 
meat  is  offensive  to  foreign  sight  and  smell.  But  the 
native  eats  it.  I  have  suspected  it  to  be  a  cause  of  the 
prevalent  disgusting  skin  diseases  and  frightful  phagedenic 
ulcers  of  the  leg.  There  are,  indeed,  domestic  goats, 
sheep,  ducks  and  chickens;  but  they  are  not  depended  on 
as  daily  food.  They  are  eaten  only  on  festive  occasions, 
marriages,  etc.,  and  when  their  blood  has  been  required 
in  seme  sacrificial  ceremony,  or  for  sale  to  foreigners 


30 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XV.  DRESS. 

The  dress  of  the  interior  tribes,  before  any  form  of 
civilization  reached  them,  was  the  very  minimum  with 
men;  and  almost  entire  nudity  with  women.  Boys  and 
girls,  until  they  were  eight  or  ten  years  of  age,  went 
perfectly  nude. 

For  women,  the  minimum  was  a  cord  around  the 
loins,  to  which  were  tied  in  front  a  handful  of  leaves; 
and,  over  the  gluteal  muscles  a  mop-like  screen  or  fringe 
made  of  strings  of  dried  palm  leaves.  Men  wore  a 
waist-cloth  covering  both  hips,  made  either  of  a  wild 
animals’  skin,  or  of  the  fiber  of  the  inner  bark  of  a 
certain  tree  (as  already  described  in  X.  Arts),  which, 
when  macerated  in  water  and  beaten  to  pliability, 
showed  an  actual  warp-and  woof  in  its  structure.  On  a 
very  rude  but  successful  loom  there  were  woven  also 
small  lengths  of  cloths  from  threads  made  of  the  soft 
unexpanded  leaves  of  the  palm  (as  already  mentioned 
under  X.  Arts).  Those  threads  resembled  grass ;  whence 
foreigners  have  mistakenly  called  it  “grass-cloth.”  But, 
on  the  sea-coast,  while  there  is  no  adult  nudity,  there 
are  many  stages  of  the  amount  of  body-covering  used, 
from  the  enlarged  waist-cloth  to  the  complete  outside 
female  frock,  or  masculine  suit  of  coat  and  trousers. 
When  caravans  come  from  the  interior,  the  men  bring 
their  wives  or  sisters  to  carry  their  burdens  for  them. 
Only  on  such  occasions  will  an  almost  nude  woman  be 
seen.  At  Batanga,  one-day,  I  was  pained  to  see  such  an 
exhibition,  and  I  asked  a  female  member  of  our  church, 
who  was  entertaining  one  of  those  women  as  her  guest, 
to  require  her  to  wear  some  clothing  while  in  our  midst. 
She  said  that  she  had  offered  one  of  her  own  dresses  for 
the  few  days  of  the  visit.  But  the  visitor  had  refused, 
saying,  “I  think  that  you  women  who  cover  your  bodies 
have  some  sores  in  your  skin  which  you  wish  to  hide. 
If  a  woman  has  a  good  body,  she  should  like  it  to  be 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


31 


seen.”  In  her  absence  of  dress,  there  was  no  immodest 
display  of  her  nakedness,  nor  any  apparent  sense  of 
shame,  beyond  the  universal  feminine  call  for  the  ancestral 
fig-leaf.  On  the  sea-coast,  the  desire  of  both  men  and 
women  to  imitate  the  foreigner  in  almost  everything  of 
the  outward  show  of  civilization,  even  before  they  have 
accepted  the  inward  truths  of  Christianity,  often  leads 
to  a  grotesque  extravagance,  and  even  dishonest  efforts 
to  obtain  mere  ornaments  beyond  the  actual  desirable 
covering  of  decent  dress. 


32 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XVI.  HEALTH. 

In  this  matter  of  dress  may  be  found  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  frequent  ill-health  of  the  semi-civilized 
native.  Dress  is  good;  but  incompatible  dress  is  not. 
While  the  native  was  an  almost  nude  or  half-clad  savage, 
his  dress  was  consistent  with  his  surroundings;  his  hut, 
his  fire  on  the  clay  floor,  his  medications,  etc.,  etc.,  his 
skin  was  less  sensitive  to  variations  in  climatic  tempera¬ 
ture,  and  his  digestion  was  normal  with  his  food  and 
cookery.  On  his  emerging  into  civilization,  these  various 
lines  of  life  were  not  kept  parallel  or  uniform  in  motion 
or  progress.  Often,  food  did  not  consist  with  habits, 
nor  dress  with  house,  nor  expenses  with  employment. 
Conditions  often  became  even  less  healthful  than  in  the 
simpler  stages  of  a  primitive  life.  In  their  transition 
period  as  a  people,  pneumonia  is  common,  and  early 
deaths  frequent,  and  infant  mortality  greater.  Many  a 
tribe  has  died  out  on  the  sea-coast.  For  hundreds  of 
years,  waves  of  tribes  have  succeeded  each  other  in 
reaching  the  goal  of  native  ambition — The  Sea.  In  a 
few  generations  they  have  disappeared,  as  if  swallowed 
up  by  that  sea.  The  civilization  they  met  with  was  a 
very  imperfect  one,  as  presented  to  them  by  the  foreigners, 
the  majority  of  whom  lived  lives  immoral  that  by  their 
shortness  have  given  an  evil  name  to  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa. 

But,  even  in  the  far  interior,  the  savage,  in  his  wild 
life,  was  not  free  from  the  results  of  his  own  polygamy, 
and  some  unsanitary  habits.  He  had  skin  diseases,  and 
ulcers,  and  tumors.  Some  tribes,  like  the  Zulu  (one  of 
the  best  Bantu  types)  were  men  and  women  of  fine 
physical  development.  But  they  had  not  the  vitality 
to  resist  rapid  diminution,  under  foreign  diseases  of 
syphilis,  small-pox,  alcoholism,  and  a  sudden  change  in 
living  conditions. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


33 


XVII.  COOKERY. 

The  common  staffs  of  life,  cassava,  plantain,  yams, 
and  eddo  are  all  boiled.  So  also  are  all  the  meats; 
they  never  were  fried;  sometimes  hastily  roasted.  The 
vessels  used  are  sometimes  native  pottery;  but  generally 
imported  iron  and  brass  pots  or  kettles  are  used.  The 
fire-place  is  in  the  middle  of  the  clay  floor  of  one  of  the 
three  rooms  of  the  ordinary  hut.  A  typical  hut,  in 
size  twenty  feet  by  ten  feet,  is  thus  divided: — one-half 
of  the  area  is  the  public  sitting-room  or  kitchen  of  the 
dwelling;  the  remaining  half  is  sub-divided  into  two 
rooms,  each  ten  feet  by  five  feet,  one  of  which  is  the  bed¬ 
room,  the  other  is  the  store-room.  For  ordinary  families, 
all  three  apartments  are  used  for  sleeping  in  at  night. 
Richer  men  give  a  special  hut  as  kitchen  and  sleeping- 
room  for  each  wife. 

The  fire  is  built  with  three  logs,  thus: — the  ends  only 
a  few  inches  from  each  other,  at  angles  of  120°.  In  the 
three  interstices  of  the  angles,  small  kindling  woods  are 
thrust  from  time  to  time  to  keep  up  the  blaze.  As  the 
ends  of  the  logs  burn  away  they  are  shoved  up  toward 
each  other.  The  pot  rests  on  the  edges  of  these  three 
ends.  Sometimes,  instead  of  the  logs,  three  stones  are 
used  on  which  to  stand  the  pot,  and  the  pieces  of  wood 
and  kindlings  are  thrust  into  the  intervening  angles. 
Fires  are  kept  burning  all  day,  for  the  constant  cooking 
for  different  members  of  the  family  and  their  chosen 
convenient  hour  of  eating,  and  for  random  guests.  At 
night,  the  smoke  is  deterrent  of  mosquitoes. 

Over  the  fire,  suspended  from  the  low  roof,  are  bamboo 
frames,  on  which  meats  are  constantly  dried.  Fish  is 
preferably  cooked,  tied  up  in  a  bunch  of  several  thicknesses 
of  plantain  leaves,  in  which  are  added  also  a  little  water, 
salt,  cayenne  pepper  pods,  and  some  oily  nuts.  This 
bundle  is  set,  not  in  a  flame,  but  on  a  bed  of  hot  coals. 
The  confined  water  is  converted  into  steam;  and  by  it 


34 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  fish  is  cooked.  The  process  is  neither  roasting, 
frying,  nor  broiling.  The  flesh  is  thoroughly  cooked 
without  any  part  of  it  being  burned.  And  the  melted 
oily  nuts  make  a  pleasant  gravy.  A  most  attractive 
fashion  of  cooking  fish!  All  foreigners  learn  to  like  it. 
For  myself,  I  know  no  civilized  manner  of  cooking  fish 
so  agreeable  in  taste  and  odor. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


35 


XVIII.  RELIGIOUS  FESTIVALS. 

I  did  not  meet  with  any  festivals  which  I  regarded  as 
distinctly  religious.  There  are  feasts,  e.  g.,  at  marriages, 
at  harvestings,  and  welcome  of  friends  returning  from 
journeys.  But  none  of  those  have  any  special  religious 
significance.  Rather,  the  dark  dreads  connected  with 
the  making  of  a  fetish-charm  for  assistance  in  plans  of 
life,  and  in  protection  against  or  destruction  of  enemies 
are  generally  so  secret  with  the  interested  individual  that 
he  or  she  has  no  desire  to  share  it  with  others.  Certainly, 
there  is  no  feasting  connected  with  the  fetish-making 
ceremonies. 


36 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XIX.  SECRET  SOCIETIES. 

In  the  Benga — affiliated  tribes,  there  was  an  Ukuku 
(“Spirit”)  Society.  In  the  Mpongwe,  and  especially 
in  the  Ogowe  river,  there  was  the  Yasi.  These  were 
composed  only  of  men.  Their  meetings  were  secret. 
An  appointed  man,  changing  his  voice  so  as  not  to  be 
recognized,  shouted  aloud  the  Society’s  decree.  To 
disobey  it  was  prompt  death  to  any  man,  woman,  or 
child.  Violent  punishment  was  given  to  any  woman  or 
child  who  even  accidentally  on  the  path  happened  to  see 
the  Society  in  procession.  The  object  of  the  Society 
was  governmental.  At  its  decree,  the  over-grown  paths 
would  promptly  be  cleaned  by  the  women  who  had 
dared  to  fail  to  comply  with  their  husbands  orders  for 
that  purpose.  Quarrels  between  families  or  tribes,  that 
a  chief  could  not  control,  were  thus  ended.  Boycotts 
made  by  Ukuku  or  Yasi  on  foreigners,  in  the  interest 
of  a  strike  for  higher  wages,  were  stronger  than  a  United 
States  trades-union  call-off.  Once  at  Benita,  in  1869, 
and,  again  in  the  Ogowe,  in  1879,  they  assailed  my  life. 
Traders  generally  succeeded  in  breaking  the  boycott  with 
secret  bribes  of  rum. 

Among  Mpongwe  women  was  a  secret  Njembe 
Society,  so  strong  that  men  were  afraid  of  it.  [I  have 
fully  described  it  in  my  “Fetishism  in  West  Africa.” 
Scribners.] 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


37 


XX.  MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS. 

The  musical  instruments  are  principally  drums  and 
harps.  The  latter  are  used  only  for  amusement,  gen¬ 
erally  by  soloists,  playing  for  themselves.  The  drums 
are  of  several  sizes,  made  from  the  hollowed  log  of  a  very 
soft  wood;  one  end  is  covered  with  the  stretched  skin 
of  a  goat  or  other  animal.  It  is  beaten  either  by  a  short 
stick,  or  the  knuckles  of  the  player.  They  are  used  for  all 
purposes:  personal  amusement,  the  beating  of  time  in  a 
dance,  or  in  religious  ceremonies,  and  at  all  feasts.  The 
most  remarkable  drum  is  the  telegraph  drum.  It  is  used 
for  sending  signals.  A  hard,  resonant  wood  is  chosen;  a 
log  some  three  feet  long  and  some  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter  is  cut.  In  the  middle  of  a  side  a  longitudinal 
slot  is  chipped,  some  fourteen  inches  by  two  inches, 
and  through  it  the  interior  is  chiseled  out.  Of  course,  a 
uniform  thickness  cannot  be  maintained  of  the  circum¬ 
ference  of  the  log.  Near  the  slot  it  will  be  less  than  two 
inches  thick;  farther  off  it  will  be  three  or  four  inches  in 
thickness.  The  ends  are  solid.  The  signals  are  struck 
by  a  short  wooden  club. 

This  instrument  was  in  existence  before  our  Morse 
system  of  telegraphic  signals  was  invented.  I  never 
learned  the  code,  but  I  saw  that  the  strokes  varied  in 
force  and  in  rapidity,  and  these  were  further  enlarged  by 
the  portion  of  the  drum  stricken,  whether  the  wall  was 
thick  or  thin.  Certain  strokes  meant  a  phrase.  Across 
an  unobstructed  body  of  water,  or  a  prairie,  the  sounds 
could  possibly  be  heard  ten  miles.  I  have  heard  them 
three  miles.  With  a  favorable  wind  they  are  ordinarily 
heard  through  the  forest  from  town  to  town  two  miles 
(A  traveler  in  Africa,  on  a  three-months’  tour,  reported 
that  the  sounds  could  be  heard  twenty  miles.)  That 
would  be  possible  only  by  having  the  signal  repeated  by 
other  drums  from  town  to  town.  In  that  way  signals 
have  been  sent  for  fifty  or  more  miles ;  inland  towns  thus 
being  warned  of  the  movements  of  foreign  government 
agents  on  the  sea  coast. 


38 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XXI.  AMUSEMENTS. 

The  amusements  of  girls  are  few.  They  follow  their 
mothers  in  the  work  at  the  gardens  and  in  the  kitchens. 
But  they  make  rudely-shaped  dolls  out  of  plantain  stalks 
and  leaves.  Boys  make  little  boats  and  canoes  and  bows 
and  arrows,  and  they  bowl  wheels  cut  out  of  a  large  tuber 
on  the  sea  beach  or  the  level  street  of  the  village.  For 
young  men  there  are  contests  in  wrestling,  as  champions 
from  rival  villages,  before  an  admiring  and  shouting 
crowd,  reminding  one  of  the  football  enthusiasm  in 
civilization. 

Dances  are  of  various  kinds;  some  purely  for  amuse¬ 
ment,  as  in  the  evening  plays;  or  at  a  feast,  or  a  mar¬ 
riage;  and  others  connected  with  fetish  religious  cere¬ 
monies.  They  are  simple,  and  generally  without  im¬ 
modesty.  Both  men  and  women  participate,  sometimes 
men  alone,  sometimes  women  alone ;  at  other  times  both 
sexes.  But  in  their  movements  there  is  rarely  a  clasping 
of  each  others  bodies,  as  in  some  of  the  dances  of  civili¬ 
zation.  Each  dancer  generally  moves  alone,  or  hand-in- 
hand  in  line.  The  motions  of  the  men  are  awkward, 
grotesque  and  ungainly;  of  the  women,  more  graceful. 
In  some  dances,  had  only  for  show,  a  woman  poses  singly, 
barely  moving  from  one  spot,  but  thrilling  in  various 
lascivious  attitudes  the  muscles  of  her  entire  body. 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


39 


XXII.  FOLK-LORE  LEGENDS. 

In  pleasant  evenings,  after  the  day’s  work  is  done, 
men,  women  and  children  and  visitors  gather  under  the 
eaves  of  the  huts  on  the  sides  of  the  one  long  street  of 
the  village  to  listen  to  dramatic  renditions  of  their  folk¬ 
lore  legends  by  skilled  actors.  These  men  occupy,  in 
the  public  estimation,  the  position  of  lyceum  lecturers  in 
civilization.  These  tales  were  the  literature  of  the  coun¬ 
try  for  thousands  of  years;  the  people  having  been 
without  books  until,  on  the  coming  of  missionaries,  less 
than  one  hundred  years  ago,  the  language  was  reduced 
to  writing.  Generally,  there  is  some  lesson  or  moral 
taught  by  the  story,  and  sometimes  the  narrator  definitely 
mentions  it. 


40 


BANTU  SOCIOLOGY. 


XXIII.  FUNERALS. 

Funeral  ceremonies  differ  in  different  tribes.  For¬ 
merly  coffins  were  unknown.  The  corpse  was  thrown 
into  a  dark  portion  of  the  forest  not  used  for  gardens; 
and  no  mark  of  respect  was  raised  over  it,  except  in  the 
case  of  chiefs.  Immediately,  on  the  death  of  the  sick, 
there  are  all  kinds  of  wails  of  grief,  real  and  simulated, 
and  firing  of  guns,  and  shouts,  in  order  to  drive  away  the 
spirit  of  the  dead,  lest  it  commence  revenges  for  enmities 
incurred  during  its  life-time.  Though  the  Africans  do 
not  claim  that  one  should  never  die,  the  assumption  in 
every  case,  even  of  what  elsewhere  would  be  called  natural 
death,  is  that  the  decease  was  premature,  and  caused 
by  witchcraft  influences.  This  belief  is  very  deep- 
seated  ;  for,  every  one  there  knows  that  he  or  she  at  some 
time  has  engaged  in  sorcery  machinations  to  injure  some¬ 
one  else,  and  there  is  a  universal  conviction  that  the 
dead  has  been  bewitched  by  somebody.  Everyone,  to 
clear  himself  or  herself,  hastens  to  escape  suspicion  by 
showing  excessive  signs  of  grief,  or  by  vigorous  direction 
of  suspicion  to  some  unloved  wife  or  helpless  slave. 
Before  the  burial  it  is  considered  the  duty  of  the  nearest 
relative  or  dearest  friend  to  sit  by  the  corpse  holding  its 
head  in  one’s  lap. 

At  an  appointed  hour  the  body  is  carried  away  by 
only  a  few  male  relatives.  On  their  return  from  the 
grave  they  go  through  a  ceremony  of  washing.  In  some 
tribes  the  grave  was  dug  in  the  floor  of  the  hut  of  the 
deceased.  Since  contact  with  foreigners,  coffins  have  been 
adopted. 

Before  the  advent  of  white  governments,  for  every 
death  there  was  at  least  one  witchcraft  murder;  for 
persons  of  importance,  several;  for  chiefs,  a  dozen;  and 
for  kings,  scores  of  wives  and  other  slaves.  In  Dahomy, 
formerly,  they  amounted  to  hundreds. 


DATE  DUE 

SEP  3  o  '69 

0C7  9  ’69 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S  A. 

